Protective garments of the type noted above are available commercially from Morning Pride Manufacturing, L.L.C. of Dayton, Ohio, under its MORNING PRIDE trademark, and from other sources. Reflective or fluorescent strips for such garments are available commercially from Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company of Saint Paul, Minn., under its SCOTCHLITE trademark, from Reflexite Corporation of Avon, Conn., under its REFLEXITE trademark, and from other sources. Typically, a protective garment of the type noted above has multiple reflective, fluorescent, or vision-enhancing strips of other types, such as strips having a color contrasting with the color of the protective garment, on arm portions, on leg portions, and elsewhere.
Typically, on an arm portion or on a leg portion, the reflective, fluorescent, or vision-enhancing strip has a seam where one end of the reflective strip meets, is near, or overlaps to the opposite end of the reflective strip. If one end overlaps the opposite end, the overlapping end may be also sewn to the overlapped end. Heretofore, when a protective garment of the type noted above was worn under adverse conditions, such a seam and threads used at such a seam were prominent so as to be particularly susceptible to possible abrasion, particularly if a wearer of the protective garment, such as a firefighter, crawled on or brushed against an abrasive object.
Further background of related interest is provided by U.S. Pat. No. 6,807,684 B2, which is assigned to Morning Pride Manufacturing, L.L.C. of Dayton, Ohio.